Saturday, April 19, 2014
How Accessibility Works at the Wheelock Family Theatre
HowlRound: Wheelock Family Theatre is the most comprehensively accessible theatre in the Boston area, and I spoke with Kristin Johnson, WFT’s inclusion specialist and in-house ASL consultant to get a full menu of what they have available, and how each of these works.
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3 comments:
The scope and quantity of the many accessibility programs at the Wheelock Family Theatre are incredible. I didn't really realize how left out some people could be in a typical theatre performance. I really enjoyed reading about how the Audio Describer learns from the preview and cast to create a script that is very dynamic. They become a major part of the production team when it comes to the performance for a blind person. It is also interesting to think about shows with much or little talking and how there would be little to enough time to describe things onstage. It really makes me appreciate my ability to see and reminds me how complex what we see around us in when it has to be explained with words. I think the relaxed performances are a really wonderful idea. I taught a camp over the summer that had a young boy who was autistic. He was very enthusiastic and loved performing. But he did need special attention and was not as self-disciplined as some of the other kids. The shared understanding and compassion the company and the audience has individuals who need special consideration is really inspiring and encourages me to think about people who don't have a full palette of senses as I create art.
Wow. This is pretty damn cool. I have never given much thought to how inaccessible theater is to the visually or aurally impaired audience, and to see that this has been given great thought by the folks at the Wheelock is very motivational. It is great to see that they have taken the time to welcome a population that represents only a small portion of their audience.
It is amazing to what length the Wheelock goes to in order to accommodate such a small fraction of it's audience. I too have never considered how "inaccessible" "regular" theater is to disabled audience members. That being said, I wonder if it is frustrating to consider the effort vs reward of accommodating all audience members. While I applaud the Wheelock for going to such great lengths, I wonder if other content suffers by pulling some focus away from the actual production. Regardless, good for Wheelock for being so accommodating!
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